PM calls for 2nd Green Revolution

"Our nation is looking to Punjab for a second Green Revolution and also for the country's food and nutrition security. This can happen only if we bring about diversification in agriculture on a massive scale so as to bring about variety and also for biodiversity," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said this while inaugurating Field Fresh Foods (P) Ltd, a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and ELRo Holdings India Ltd, an investment company of the Rothschild family, at village Ladhowal in Ludhiana.

Field Fresh Foods was incorporated in 2004 to "link Indian fields to the world" and is having strategic partnerships with leaders in each segment of the fresh produce category to build profitable scale through cost leadership and the adoption of world-class technology and best practices.

The company is sourcing high-quality fruits and vegetables from key growers across the country via the "collaborative farming" route.

Singh said the focus of Eleventh Five Year plan was on agricultural and rural indebtedness and the Centre would welcome private sector intervention in farming and provide firms with liberal policy support. There are 650 million farming families in the country.

"Field Fresh Foods is a new beginning and a 'creative adventure' to enable small and marginal farmers of Punjab to take fresh beans or bell pepper or cherry tomato to a Perishable Cargo Centre at Amritsar airport and export it without any difficulty. If our farmers are not active in process of social and economic change, our country can't grow."